At Your Service
by ebeewhale
Summary: Raditz is picked up off of the streets and is forced to work for King Vegeta, but everything turns out a little bit better than expected. Oneshot. T for language.


"By the king's orders, you are to report to his aide, Raditz, son of Bardock," a messenger stood before the saiyan named Raditz.

Raditz looked at the piece of paper that the messenger handed him. Confused, he asked, "What for?" It wasn't all that rare for random saiyans to be picked up off of the streets for combat on other planets. Every saiyan on planet Vegeta feared the day that they might be forcibly snatched from their homes due to the order of King Vegeta. Raditz was asking anyway, hoping what he thought might not be true.

"The king ordered that he tell you himself," replied the messenger as he escorted Raditz towards the palace. The two flew off towards the massive building about four kilometers away.

Raditz kept quiet as he flew through the dark green sky. He didn't know exactly what was going on. All of the possibilities of why the king needed him raced through his mind, each and every one either holding a dark future, or no future at all.

They arrived at the palace, which was incredibly huge. The entrance was elevated fifty meters off of the ground. The ones who had been trained to fly were able to enter the building if permitted, and the ones who weren't stayed on the ground.

The messenger called out to a guard behind the door, "I have Raditz, son of Bardock for King Vegeta." The guards opened the pieces of steel on cue, and he followed the messenger inside.

They touched ground in the palace and the messenger led Raditz through dozens of corridors. Eventually, they made it to the center of the building, which was where the king's throne resided. The room was fairly large, with a tall ceiling. The windows were covered by red silk drapes, each one having the king's symbol printed in gold on the middle. Aside from the drapes, the room seemed very drab (at least drab for a king's room). The room was a solid rectangle shape, most likely built out of concrete or stone. There was one long, red carpet spread from the foot of the throne to the entrance of the room. Sitting in the throne, was the king himself.

The messenger and Raditz walked along the carpet towards the king. Another saiyan was already standing before him. The two stopped in front of the throne and knelt on to one knee, "King Vegeta," they both said in unison.

"King Vegeta," the other saiyan knelt as well.

"Stand," King Vegeta said to all three, "Leave," he said to the messenger. The messenger bowed and walked out of the room.

The king looked at both Raditz and the other saiyan. The two looked back. Raditz tried showing no fear. Fear would force King Vegeta to think he is weak, and that would never be good. The saiyan on his side was probably doing the same.

The king spoke, "Nappa, son of Lettiz?"

"Yes," the saiyan known as Nappa replied.

"Raditz, son of Bardock?"

"Yes."

"Both of you have incredible fathers," the king said to the two, "fathers whom are incredible warriors and incredible fighters, and fathers who would die for their planet," he continued. "Now," he looked at the two of us, "would you die for your planet?"

"Yes," the two spoke at once.

"Would you protect something so important at all costs?"

"Yes," they said once more.

Raditz had known. He was going off to another planet to destroy races and serve Lord Frieza. He stood, emotionless, waiting for the inevitable.

The king stood from his throne made of rock, and took a few steps so he was face to face with both Nappa and Raditz. He looked at them and said with a professional, yet commanding tone, "Protect my son until you die."

"Yes, your highness," Nappa kneeled once more.

Raditz followed, "Yes, your highness." Never question the king.

"You may leave. There should be a guard waiting just outside the door to show you two to his room," King Vegeta turned back around to sit in his throne again. Raditz and Nappa turned and walked towards the exit

* * *

"What was that?" Nappa asked Raditz incredulously as they had made it out of the room, "I was almost entirely sure he was going to kill us personally, but no. We have to babysit his brat of a son."

Raditz looked at the other saiyan, dressed in blue armor. His hair was black and short, and he had a mustache. Raditz had the final conclusion that he had never before seen Nappa in his life.

Raditz nodded his head, "I thought that as well." He looked forward again, "How do you know that his son is a brat? You've worked with him before?"

"Nah," Nappa responded, "just heard word goin' 'round that he was."

"Hm," Raditz kept walking forward, following the guard. They took a left and there was an open door. Through the door was another room. It looked about the same as the throne room. It was nothing special. The only thing inside was a battered dummy, and the young prince repeatedly shooting ki blasts at it.

Raditz noted that the child looked just like his father, with tall, spiked, black hair. He was muscular (even more than a normal saiyan) and short for his age. _He must spend all of his days training. _Raditz thought.

"Prince Vegeta," the guard bowed towards the boy. He didn't acknowledge the guard, Vegeta was completely focused on blasting the dummy to bits.

"Your new watchers," he bowed again and walked away from Raditz, Nappa, and the door without another word.

Nappa and Raditz stared at the unwavering boy. None of them spoke, and all that could be heard was the loud crackling of the flames on the now torched dummy, and the continuous blasts.

"When do you think he'll stop?" Nappa whispered towards Raditz.

Raditz shrugged in response. The kid was still going.

"I'm going to do something about it," the other saiyan whispered again as he started to march towards the center of the room. "Hello, Lord," he said towards the child, "we are your new watchers. I am Nappa, son of Lettiz," he waved his hand towards Raditz, "and this is Raditz, son of…?"

"Bardock."

"Son of Bardock!" Nappa finished. He stared at the young prince, for he had stopped blasting once the speaking began.

Balled fists at his sides, the prince didn't move, nor respond to Nappa's interjection. Then, as if out of nowhere, the child whipped volatility towards Nappa and shot a blast. Nappa, luckily, dodged the fire. A huge boom and crack was heard. Raditz looked to his right and there was a hole in the wall— it went clean through it. "Don't you dare," the prince snarled, "interrupt me again." He walked over to Nappa, who, at this point, had an incredulous expression on his face. "You must also address me as Prince Vegeta," he said in a raspy voice, "and if you don't, you must pray to the gods that you dodge the next one." Then, as if on cue, the kid went back to where he was standing before, sending ki blast after ki blast straight towards the battered dummy's torso.

Nappa stood in place for a bit (obviously still is shock) then spun around on his heel and walked back towards Raditz, who had begun to lean against the wall next to the gaping hole. Nappa faced Raditz with a rageful expression and whispered, "What the fuck is wrong with this kid?"

Raditz rolled his eyes, "Calm yourself before you lose control of anything."

"I'm not going to calm for shit, I'm—!"

Raditz interrupted, "Shut the fuck up, Nappa. He wouldn't kill you even if he wanted to. His father would exile him like Prince Tarble. Now, if we were to hurt the kid, we'd have our heads on a platter, so which do you choose: life serving a brat in the royal palace, or death?"

Nappa stared at Raditz for a moment with a menacing glare. Then, Nappa's grimace turned into a jocular smile, and he relaxed his back from the slouching position he was in. He patted Raditz on the back and laughed, "You're a good buddy!" Nappa started to lean on the wall next to Raditz. "You're gonna be such a better watcher than I am." he said, still giggling.

Raditz turned his head towards Nappa and questioned, "What makes you think that?"

Nappa shrugged, "You basically just prevented my ass from being demolished by the king; you protected me, man." Nappa stared off towards the prince.

Raditz nodded and turned his head towards the young saiyan. He smirked as he thought _Maybe this job won't be so hard, after all._

* * *

Hours had passed, and in that lapse, Nappa and Raditz sparred with the Prince Vegeta (who always won easily each round); and they had waited to the prince to finish his meal.

Vegeta spoke with a mouth full of meat, "I'm done," he dropped his eating utensils on his plate. "We go to the garden," he demanded to his watchers.

Raditz and Nappa looked at each other, then started walking over to the younger saiyan waiting at the door of the room. As they reached the prince, he stopped them, "Carry me," he ordered. Raditz succumbed to the demand and started to reach his hands towards the torso of the boy, but he was interrupted, "No," Vegeta stepped back, "Both of you will carry me." He looked at his watchers with a smirk of his face.

The prince's naïvety briefly convinced himself that the two in front of him would never be able to complete his command. To his avail, however, the two older saiyans smirked right back at him, picked him up, and placed the tiny body on both of their shoulders. With one leg on the shoulder of Nappa, and one on the shoulder of Raditz, the two dashed off out of the door.

Nappa called, "Where to, Prince Vegeta?"

Vegeta laughed, "That way!" He pointed out each direction they were needing to go. On the seventh turn, the prince called, "Straight ahead!" towards an open window.

Raditz smiled as he and Nappa gained speed and jumped. There were a few seconds of free fall, then they started to fly toward the garden below, slowing their initial speed to a float. They eased down and their feet touched the grassy plateau in unison. Vegeta jumped off of both of their shoulders and ran through the plants, obviously enjoying himself.

Nappa and Raditz watched the young saiyan play from a distance. "You know," Raditz began, "We probably could've said 'no' to that order."

Nappa laughed, "Yeah, I know, but hey, the kid's kinda cute. How could I resist him."

"Hm," Raditz responded. His head turned back towards little Vegeta thrashing playfully about through the garden, and he couldn't help but smile and agree.

**AN: Sorry if there are any mistakes in here. I procrastinated on this story for a long time now, and I just wanted to get it done.**


End file.
